Fahad N. Almajhdi

Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Saudi Arabia Fahad N. Almajhdi

Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are the most common infectious disease among human population worldwide. Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is the leading cause of RTIs in infants and young children with a high disease impact on the lower respiratory tract. Two types of HRSV; A and B, were found to circulate concurrently with slight predominance of type A in most epidemics. There is a substantial lack of information on HRSV circulating in Saudi Arabia in terms of circulating types and strains, virus isolation, antigenic and genetic characterization, and phylogenetic relationship with strains circulating worldwide.